Destiny's Gift
by BlueDragonRising
Summary: When Emma went hiking that day, she didn't expect to find herself in Camelot, or to meet the Merlin and Arthur. Now, as questions are posed and secrets are revealed, the question remains: what has she gotten herself into? Spoilers S3 & on
1. Prologue

Looking back, Emma could still remember the day that her life had changed forever. When she had been literally thrown from her life of normalcy into a world of magic, danger, adventure and love.

When she had found _him_.

From the moment that she had woken up in Camelot, her life became one chaotic adventure after another. And she can still remember it all.

All the battles fought…

All the foes defeated…

All the adventures embarked on…

All the journeys taken…

All the friends made…

All the comrades lost…

All the moments enjoyed…

All the tears that were cried…

So much had happened since that fateful day, and even though it had its times of hardship and heartache, she would never have traded it for anything.

Grabbing the hand of the man who had so completely changed her world, she squeezed it gently as he looked over at her with a grin that had become so achingly familiar. His smile dragged her back in memories, and if she closed her eyes, she can almost see it all once more…


	2. A Trip in the Forest

The early morning sun filtered in through an open window in the girl's dormitory of Lady Wyrda's School for Girls. Inside the room that said window belonged to, Emma Thomas rolled over in her bed, trying to block out the morning light.

The valiant effort to go back to sleep didn't last long before a shrill alarm blared through the cool air, startling both occupants of the room into consciousness.

"Emma, turn that blasted alarm off, would ya?" Emma's roommate grumbled.

"Sure thing, Maddie." Emma yawned, clumsily smacking a button at the top of her alarm clock to silence its piercing cries.

Maddie muttered a soft 'thank you' before rolling back over in bed.

Feeling as much as looking, Emma managed to find her clothes and tennis shoes before quickly changing amidst the growing yawns. On her way out of their room, she closed the blinds so that it was darker and easier for Maddie to sleep.

Once Emma was outside in the cool and crisp morning air, she began to actually wake up. Stretching and smiling at the sunny weather, Emma took off down a nearby path, her feet pounding the dirt as she took her early morning run. The school campus was quiet at this time of the morning, as most students were still asleep, and the first few teachers had just began to arrive for classes. The path that she followed circled around the small campus of the boarding school, through the trees on the outskirts of campus, and back again.

Her daily run first thing in the morning had become a habit over the years, as a good way to clear her head and start the day. Before she had moved to England to live with her mother, she and her father used to go on morning runs like that almost every morning. She gave a sad smile at the thought of her father, before forcing herself to think of something different.

After running the two mile trail around the school campus, Emma raced back to her room, took a quick shower, and changed into her school uniform before hurrying to her first class.

Her day flew by until lunch, where she met her roommate back at their dorm room to change into outdoors clothes. For their next class, biology, their teacher had decided to take them all on a half-day hike through the forest, to study plants in their native habitat, as well as gather some samples to study over the next week or two.

"I can't believe Mr. Blackstein is forcing us to go on this hike." Maddie complained as she tied her blond hair back and out of the way. She was wearing a camo t-shirt, with a dark green army jacket over it, jeans, and hiking boots. And everything was fitted to show off her cheerleader physique. "Like we have nothing better to do with our day than to go tramping off through the woods looking at trees."

Emma finished braiding her hair, tossed the braid back and looked at herself in the mirror. She was wearing a long sleeve black and white plaid shirt with a blue tank top on underneath, jeans, and hiking boots, which had been a gift from her mother. "It's a large part of our grade, Madds." Emma reminded the other girl, who was in the process of packing her backpack in preparation for the hike. "Besides, you never know. It could be fun."

Maddie giggled. "Maybe I'll meet a handsome prince who will sweep me off of my feet." She said, whirling around in an imaginary ball gown.

Emma couldn't help but giggle with her. "A handsome prince in the middle of the forest?" She clarified.

"It could happen." Maddie shrugged. "It worked for Snow White and Sleeping Beauty."

Emma grabbed her own black backpack and dumped out the school books in it, leaving one of the books, and added a notebook for writing down observations, bags for collecting samples, her sketchbook and pencils, a bottle of water, some snacks, and lastly the huge bottle of pain relievers that she liberally bought by the carton.

"Headaches still?" Maddie asked sympathetically.

"Yeah. Unfortunately." Emma replied shouldering her backpack. Before she left, she grabbed the pocket knife that had been a present from her father and stuck it in her pocket. The school would freak out if they found out that she had it, but she had refused to leave it at home. "Now let's get going, before we're late and Mr. Blackstein gives us a month's detention for it."

An hour later found Maddie and Emma walking through the woods. Maddie had her iPod in one ear, and was currently searching for a phone signal while Emma looked through the plants for ones matching the list she was holding. As a result of her careful looking at the ground, she accidentally ran into Maddie's back when she suddenly stood still in the middle of the path.

"Ah!" Emma exclaimed in surprise.

"I found a signal! Ooh, and Brad texted me!" Maddie squealed, ignoring Emma's annoyed look and sitting down on a nearby rock to text furiously.

"So I'll just keep working on our assignment alone, I suppose?" Emma replied sarcastically, which was completely ignored by Maddie.

Emma was about to add another sarcastic comment when something colorful flashed through the trees at the corner of her eye, catching her attention immediately. She spun around, but there was nothing there.

"Maddie, did you see that?" Emma asked, a nervous feeling settling in the pit of her stomach.

"Nuh-uh." Maddie replied distractedly, still texting away on her phone.

"Oh. It must have just been another student or teacher." Emma reasoned.

Another flash of color, followed by the crack of a stick, made Emma spin on the spot again, staring into the trees to try and catch a glimpse of whatever it was. She looked at Maddie, who was still carrying on without reacting. Emma looked a couple of times between Maddie and the direction that the flash of color had come from, before coming to a decision.

"Maddie, I'm going to go check something out. I'll be right back, okay?" Emma murmured.

"Sure." Maddie replied, popping her gum and giggling at whatever Brad had said to her.

Cautiously, Emma hefted the backpack higher up on her back before treading off of the path into the wild and untamed forest. She had only pushed her way through a bush before another flash of color made her speed up to chase after it. A thought of _What exactly am I doing_? flitted through her head before she pushed it out, driven by curiosity. Bushes and trees scratched at her skin, but Emma ignored them, intent on finding whatever had made those flashed.

With a suddenness that made her heart jump, Maddie put her foot down to realize there was only open air underneath it. Tumbling and falling, Emma scrabbled at anything she could put her hands on, trying to stop her fall, before pain exploded outside of her head, and all she saw was blackness.

* * *

"Do ya think that she is still alive?"

The same voice shouted in surprise when Emma groaned, wanting to cry out at the pain in her head but lacking the energy to do so. _Where am I?_ Emma thought groggily.

A host of images flashed before her eyes. A flash of color. Running through the trees. The sudden drop off. _I must have hit my head when I fell._ Emma realized.

"Well, whadya know? She lives." Another voice commented above her. Only then did Emma realize that it was a man's voice that had woken her up. "She is rather pretty. Bet she'll fetch a good price from trader's up north."

Emma's eyes shot open at that, only for her to close them again with a groan of agony. The light had felt like daggers piercing though her eyes into her sensitive head. More slowly this time, Emma cracked her eyes open to see the blurry image of several large and burly men surrounding her. They were all dressed in dark fabric and leather, and had swords strapped to their sides.

Something about that sight felt wrong to Emma, but her most likely concussed brain was too overloaded at the moment to figure it out at the moment.

One of the men grabbed her wrists, and Emma immediately tried to tug them away, although her movements were sluggish.

"Here, use this before she wakes up fully. I have a feeling she's a bit of a fighter." One of the men jeered.

Before Emma could comment, the man holding her wrists tied rope several times around them and tied them together tightly. She yanked experimentally at the rope when he was done, but it refused to budge.

"Let me go!" Emma yelled, her voice sounding stronger than she felt.

"Oh-ho, she speaks! Grab her bag, and let's get her back to camp. We can dump her with the other two. Beran can figure out what to do with her."

One of the men slung her over his shoulder, and Emma protested the movement, thrashing about a bit and hitting him (albeit weakly) before she got a knife to the throat for her troubles. She got the message and stopped moving after that, and settled for waiting to see what the heck she had gotten herself into.

As they walked along, Emma realized what it was that was bothering her. These men were all wrong! First, their weapons. They carried swords, not guns. Nobody carried swords anymore. If they were thieves or some sort of criminals (which seemed very likely seeing their actions so far), they would at least have some sort of guns. Plus, their clothes were all wrong. She had never seen anything like these men were wearing; in fact, it looked a lot like the clothes from her favorite history book that men wore in the middle ages.

Not knowing what was going on, and wondering what had happened to the rest of her class, Emma decided to wait to see what was happening before she did anything rash and got herself hurt.

Apparently, the men's main base wasn't too far away from where she had fallen because it was only one short and very uncomfortable walk later that she began to see tents set up, and men milling around a large fire in the middle, sharpening swords, eating, or fighting.

The man carrying her passed by all of the tents, ignoring them man who stopped to look at her, and opted for a smaller tent near the middle that had three men guarding the front.

Without warning, the man entered the tent and dropped her to the ground, landing hard on her left side and jarring her already sensitive head.

"Hey!" Emma protested indignantly. He just eyed her, and then turned around and left the tent, letting the opening fall closed once more.

"You all right?"

Emma jumped and yelped at the sound of the voice behind her, and then grunted at the pain that shot through her head once more. _My head is not going to like me for this._

"Sorry, sorry." The voice offered quickly.

Emma rolled over to see her company, and realized that there were two rather handsome boys at the back of the tent. One had golden blond hair and blue eyes, and was wearing some rather fancy clothes. The other, the one who had spoken, had jet black hair and deep blue eyes, ears that stuck out beyond his messy hair, and cheekbones that most girls would kill for. He was wearing a red shirt, a blue neckerchief, and a brown jacket. Both of them, like her, were tied up, although their arms were tied behind them.

"You all right?" the boy with black hair asked again, seeing that she had calmed down.

"I think so." Emma replied, rolling over onto her knees.

"I'm Merlin, and this is Prince Arthur." The boy with black hair, Merlin, said. "What's your name?"

"Emma." She replied, before it hit her what the boy had said. "Wait, Merlin? Arthur? Like Camelot, knights, the Round Table, the whole bit?" Emma asked.

The two boys shared a look before the blond one, Arthur, replied, "Well, I'm not sure what exactly a round table has to do with anything, but I am Prince Arthur Pendragon of Camelot."

Emma was about to scoff and disagree when a deep and wise voice resounded through her already pounding head, saying, _He is telling the truth, Emma. You truly are in Camelot. _

_Great. Now I'm hearing voices in my head like a crazy person._ Emma thought, slightly worried for her mental health. _And even my crazy person thoughts aren't making any sense._

_You are not crazy, nor are you imagining my voice. _

_Yeah, that's what all disembodied voices say. _Emma stopped for a moment._ And that sounded even crazier than I thought it would._

A deep throated chuckle sounded, and the voice stated_ Nevertheless, I am telling the truth. You are in Camelot, and that is Arthur Pendragon. Do not say anything about your knowledge, especially about your knowledge of Merlin's true identity and powers._

_Why?_ Emma asked warily

_Arthur is not currently aware of Merlin's abilities, and it must stay that way until the proper time. _Sensing she was about to argue, the voice continued, _All shall be revealed in time; for now, know that you can trust those two men._

_Why should I listen to you? How do I know it's not just the head injury talking, or that_ _I'm not imagining things?_ Emma retorted.

_That could be true, Emma Thomas._ The voice replied._ But let me ask you something in return. What if you aren't?_

Emma was about to add something when the voice pulled back from her head, leaving only her own thoughts and resounding pain. _Bloody annoying voice in my head who refuses to talk straight. _Emma scowled.

Scowling at the infuriating voice in her head, Emma looked up to see that both Arthur and Merlin were giving her strange looks. Realizing that she had just been scowling at the ground for several moments for no apparent reason, she dropped her scowl and looked sheepish.

She decided that, for the moment, she would follow that voice's advice and pretend that her world hadn't suddenly been turned on its head, or that she didn't feel like Alice wandering lost through Wonderland. _Although if I see a Cheshire cat running around with no head, then I'll definitely know that I'm crazy, or dreaming. _Because as much as she hated listening to disembodied voices (not that she did before, or had heard them before), it had a point. What if it actually was telling the truth?

And it was that thought alone that made up her mind.

Blinking several times, and trying to look confused and out of it (which was not hard at all, considering her head), Emma met Merlin's gaze. _He has really pretty eyes._ She thought randomly.

"Sorry, Sire." Emma said softly. "I'm not really thinking clearly at the moment."

Shifting their line of vision to her head and the obvious bruise that was forming, both of their faces cleared and looks of understanding and concern took their place.

"Don't worry, Emma. We'll get you out of here." Merlin assured her quietly. Emma gave him a smile, which Merlin quickly returned.

"Aren't you forgetting something, _Mer_lin? I'm pretty sure I'm the one that'll be doing the saving. She most likely has a concussion, and everybody knows that you're useless in a fight." Arthur retorted.

Emma was about to argue on Merlin's behalf, considering if he really was _Merlin_ then he had magic, and powerful magic at that, but the warning the voice had given her rang through her head once more.

"What exactly are you two doing here, anyways?" Emma asked curiously.

"We were searching for Morgana, my father's ward, who was kidnapped from Camelot several months ago. When we got separated from the knights who were with us."

"And, of course, managed to get captured by bandits." Merlin added.

Emma couldn't help but giggle, even though the situation wasn't really that funny. "I take it this happens a lot?"

Merlin opened his mouth to answer when Arthur cut him off. "We can talk about this later. Right now, we need to find a way out of these ropes so that we can escape." He said, motioning to the ropes currently binding all of their hands.

In a flash, Emma remembered what she had stuck in her pocket on the way out of her dorm room: her dad's knife. She pushed down on her pocket, and felt the knife still in her pocket. Wriggling her bound hand into her pocket, she managed to grab the small knife and begin sawing at the ropes around her wrist unseen.

Emma opened her mouth to tell Arthur and Merlin the good news when a loud commotion sounded in front of the tent. "Emma, get behind us." Arthur ordered in a low tone.

More than happy to comply, Emma scrambled onto her knees, lurching drunkenly, before falling behind them. Merlin, the only other one with hands tied in front of him, reached out to steady her.

As soon as they touched, a warm current of energy flowed between them, causing both of them to gasp in shock.

"Did you…" Merlin asked, wide-eyed.

"Yeah." Emma confirmed breathlessly.

"Look, when the next person comes into the tent, I'll jump them and hopefully knock them over." Arthur interjected, looking determined. "Merlin, when that happens, grab his sword, or knife, or anything sharp. Hopefully we'll have time to cut our ropes before they come for us, and we can worry about escaping."

"Is he always so bossy?" Emma murmured to Merlin.

Merlin snickered. "Yeah. All the time."

"Shut up, _Mer_lin." Arthur retorted.

With a snap, the ropes around Emma's wrists came tumbling off as she finally managed to finish cutting them. Arthur and Merlin stared at the ropes with a shocked expression that Emma found hilarious. Flicking her wrist, Emma showed them the knife she had been hiding in her hand.

"Rule #9, always carry a knife." Emma quoted with a laugh.

Merlin met her look with a grin. "I like the way you think." He said

Quickly, she made short work of the ropes around Arthur's arms, and then Merlin's. Arthur rolled his shoulders to relieve them of their stiffness and flashed her a thankful look.

At the growing sounds of swords clashing, and of men fighting, Arthur crept to the front of the tent and peeked out through a slit in the fabric to see what was going on. "It's the knights. They've finally made it." He grinned, heading out to join in the skirmish.

Merlin helped her to stand, and with Emma leaning heavily on him the duo headed towards the door. But before Merlin could open it, a crack of pain flashed through her head. Merlin asked something in a loud voice, but Emma couldn't understand what he was saying. Before she could say a word, an image flashed before her eyes.

She saw a bandit, dressed in brown, raise a crossbow and take aim. The string released, and from somewhere out of her line of sight she heard a yell of pain. A yell that sounded distinctly like Arthur's.

Her vision swiftly returned, followed by her hearing. Over the dying noise of fighting outside, Merlin was asking her what was wrong, and what was happening.

Ignoring him for the moment, Emma pushed herself through the front of the tent and winced when she was out in the bright sunlight. Outside, she saw Arthur talking to and clasping arms with a brown haired knight, totally fine. Merlin followed, putting a hand on her shoulder and murmuring, "I'll be right back." before walking over to Arthur's side.

Looking towards the opposite tent, Emma saw the top of her backpack and staggered toward it, ignoring the waves of dizziness and pain that seemed to be getting steadily worse, hoping that her pain meds were still there so she could swallow about a dozen of them.

But before she could reach it, a flash of brown against the outline of the tents caught her attention, and to her horror she saw one of the bandits bring up a crossbow to aim at Prince Arthur.

Somewhere in her concussed brain, Emma realized that since nobody else had noticed the man, it was up to her to do something about it.

With no other ideas, Emma yelled, "Look out!" and tackled the crossbow-wielding man.

The crossbow fired just as she hit him, causing the crossbow to go off target and to fly over Arthur, and the other knight's, heads. All of the men turned in shock to look as both Emma and the bandit felt to the ground. As soon as Emma hit the ground, an explosion of color and pain erupted behind her eyes, and she fell into the blackness of unconsciousness for the second time that day.


	3. New Friends

As Emma neared consciousness, she thought about the strange dream that she had had. Meeting King Arthur and the warlock Merlin, and strange voices in her head? Seriously, where had all of that come from? _I really need to stop reading fantasy books if I'm going to have dreams like that, or at least pay better attention in history class. Wasn't Merlin supposed to be an old man?_ Emma thought, before she mentally shrugged. _I'll just have to look it up on the internet later._

The more awake that she became, the more she became aware that something was wrong. She couldn't move; her limbs felt heavy, like they were made of lead. Also, she wasn't in her bed at school; instead, she was laying on what felt like a hard cot or hospital bed. _Someone must have found me and brought me back to school._ Emma realized. She listened to the sounds around her, hoping to hear a teacher, or Maddie, or someone familiar, and she discovered that there were people talking in low tones off to her left.

But, to her surprise, they weren't the voices of her teachers, or even the school nurse, who she had the misfortune of meeting several times. Not that she was clumsy, or accident prone, but things did tend to happen around her that required visits to the nurse (They were not always her fault, no matter what Maddie said!). So she knew what the nurse's voice sounded like, and the low voice that she was hearing wasn't it.

Pulling herself out of her thoughts, Emma listened to see what those voices were saying, hoping that by doing so she could figure out what was going on.

"…was amazing Gaius!" a younger man's voice was saying. It sounded vaguely familiar, but Emma's head was still spinning slightly so she had trouble remembering where from. "I don't know how she realized in time, but if she hadn't tackled that bandit when she did, Arthur would be dead right now. She saved his life!"

_Arthur? But the bandit… they were all in my dream! They couldn't be real!_ Emma thought frantically. But the next few words killed that hope.

"Merlin, you must still be cautious." An older man cautioned. "While she did save Prince Arthur's life, we have seen too many instances of people arriving proclaiming peace, who end up trying to kill either Uther or Arthur Pendragon out of anger or retribution for the Purge, or who try to take over Camelot for either of the two previous reasons."

"I know, I know." Merlin replied quietly. "There's just something about her, Gaius. My magic just seemed to reach out to her, especially when we touched. Maybe she has magic as well?"

_Well, that answer the question as to whether he's really a wizard or not._ Emma thought wryly. _Although that is a funny idea, me having magic._

"You can't tell her about your magic, Merlin. You have no idea who she is, or why she's here. Magic is still banned on pain of death…"

_Wait, what?_

"…and you can't afford for someone untrustworthy to find out and expose you. If Uther were to find out about your magic, you wouldn't be able to protect Arthur any longer."

"I know, I know. All right, I won't say anything to her, I promise." Merlin replied, a tinge of sadness coloring his voice. "I just can't help but feel like there is something about her…"

Emma, unable to help it, drifted off to sleep once more; the two men sitting near oblivious to the fact she had just overheard their apparently not-so-legal conversation.

* * *

Blue eyes drifted lazily open, staring unseeing at the ceiling above, before recent events and conversations replayed themselves and their owner suddenly shot up on the bed where she had been laying. Merlin, who had been sitting at a nearby table reading a brown covered book, jumped at her sudden movement before walking over to sit beside her.

Emma held her head with a groan, her concussion making itself known by the sharp pain that coursed behind her eyes at her too quick movements. "Ugh, my head." She moaned. In all reality, it was feeling better than it had been at the bandit's camp, but that didn't mean it had stopped hurting completely.

"You're awake!" Merlin said cheerfully, sitting on the edge of the cot in front of her. "How do you feel?"

"Like someone's been using my head as a drum." Emma complained.

Merlin chuckled softly. "That's probably an apt description. Gaius, he's the Court Physician here in Camelot, said that you have a concussion. He gave you a sleeping draught, hoping that you would sleep off the worst of it."

_That explains why it was hard to move when I woke up the first time. _Emma realized.

"He's doing his rounds right now, but he'll be back soon." Merlin continued, not noticing her preoccupation.

"How long have I been out?" Emma asked, her voice still thick with the grogginess of sleep and medication.

"Um, a little less than a day. After you passed out, we brought you back to Camelot; that was last night. It's about an hour before midday now." Giving her a curious look, and tilting his head slightly to the right, he asked, "What do you remember?"

"Umm…" Emma stared of to the side for a moment as she tried to collect her memories into a collective whole, and took in the room that she was currently sitting in. The room that she was currently occupying was full of books, and several tables were covered with other scientific, medical and some just odd looking items, but mostly there were _books_. Everywhere, with covers of many different colors, and many different subjects.

In the back of the chambers was a small set of stairs, leading to a closed wooden door. The faint scent of herbs and spices permeated the place, and warm sunlight filtered in through the far window, giving the place a warm and homely air to it.

Remembering she was supposed to be talking, Emma turned back to Merlin's curious face and relayed, "I remember falling, and waking up to those ugly brutes that decided to kidnap me. I remember meeting you and Arthur, in that tent. I cut your guy's ropes, and the knights showed up." Emma frowned, and continued, "But after that, my memory gets a little hazy. I vaguely remember tents, and bright sunlight, and a man with a crossbow?" She finished in a questioning tone.

Merlin nodded. "You saved Arthur's life when you tackled that bandit; which all of the knights, even Arthur, were impressed with by the way." Merlin tacked on with a chuckle. "It made the bolt veer off target, and miss him. You're a hero!"

Before Emma could comment on that, the main door to the chambers opened, and an older man with shoulder length grey hair and wearing a blue robe entered carrying a round bag came bustling in, pausing when he saw that Emma was awake. "How long has she been awake for?" He asked, setting his bag on the table and bustling over to join them.

"Just for a few minutes." Merlin replied. Noticing Emma's confused look, he waved towards the older man and said, "Emma, this is Gaius, my mentor and the Court Physician. Gaius, this is Emma."

"It is very nice to meet you." Emma said politely, offering her hand in greeting.

"Likewise, it's good to see you awake." Gaius replied warmly, grasping her hand to shake it. "Merlin told me what you did for the Crown Prince; that was very brave of you."

Emma couldn't help the slight blush that crept up on her face. "Thank you, although to be honest, I don't really remember much about that part."

Gaius chuckled, and Emma found herself giggling along with the older man.

"Regardless, Arthur wants to see you as soon as you are able, to thank you for saving his life." Merlin relayed.

Emma's jaw dropped slightly, and her eyes opened wide in fright. "The prince wants to see me? Me?" She squealed in shock. "But I don't… I haven't… what do I do, or say? What if I do something wrong?"

"You've already met Arthur before, Emma, remember?" Merlin reminded her.

"Yeah, when we were captured by bandits and he was tied up and unable to do anything." Emma replied dryly.

"Well, although he is still a prat," Merlin chuckled warmly, "He is a good man. You don't have to worry."

While they were talking, Gaius checked the wound on her head, her eyes, and her reactions. After checking her out, Gaius informed her, "There is no lasting damage that I can see. You will probably have headaches and some issues with dizziness for the next couple of days or so, but with plenty of rest you will be perfectly fine."

"Thanks, Gaius." Emma said. Remembering her backpack, and the promise of painkillers that it held, Emma searched around for it; but it was nowhere to be seen. "Umm, where is my bag?" Emma asked, concerned.

"Oh, it's in my room." Merlin said, hopping off of his seat to run up the stairs and grab it. "I've never seen a pack quite like it." Merlin commented as he handed it to her.

"Oh, uh, it's just something I've had for awhile." Emma hedged, digging through the bag to make sure everything was still there. "Nobody got into this, right?" She asked worriedly.

Merlin gave her a confused look, but he still answered, "No, we just brought it back with us."

Emma sighed gratefully. If she really was in the past, then she couldn't let anybody know that she was from the future, and she couldn't do anything to change it irreparably. She had seen enough TV and movies to know that that sort of thing was very dangerous. As soon as she had gotten her bearings, she was going to have to figure out a way to get home before she altered something permanently.

A knock at the door caught Merlin and Gaius's attention, and Emma used the distraction to quickly swallow a couple of ibuprofen and water from her water bottle.

At Gaius's beckoning, the door opened to reveal a young woman with chocolate brown skin, and dark hair, who was carrying a couple of dresses in her arms.

"Hello, Merlin. Gaius." She said in a bright tone.

"Hey, Gwen." Merlin replied.

The young woman, or Gwen, walked in and set the dresses that she was carrying on the table before grabbing a stool near Emma's bed.

"Gwen, this is Emma. Emma, this is Guinevere, although everybody calls her Gwen." Merlin introduced.

Emma's eyes widened for a moment before she managed control her reaction. Guinevere? As in _Queen _Guinevere? But with the clothes she wears, she didn't look like a queen, or even a noble woman, Emma's mind argues.

Unknowing of her thoughts, Gwen held out her hand and said, "It's nice to meet you, Emma."

"You too." Emma replied, shaking her hand and feeling slightly overwhelmed.

"Merlin said that you didn't have any proper clothes, so I brought a couple dresses that you can borrow until you can get some of your own." Said Gwen kindly.

"Thanks." Emma replied, giving her a tentative smile, which Gwen returned.

"I heard about what you did, saving Prince Arthur like that. It was very brave of you." Gwen said, her eyes soft towards the person who had saved the life of her love.

"Thank you." Emma said, her voice getting stronger. _This whole situation is just… weird!_ Emma thought understatedly.

"Would you mind changing into one of them now? I just want to make sure the dress fits well before you go to meet with the prince." Gwen asked, getting up to grab one of the dresses that she had brought with her before turning to eye her current outfit.

"What's wrong with what I'm wearing?" Emma asked indignantly.

All three just gave her an incredulous look, and Gwen explained, "It wouldn't be proper for a woman to walk through Camelot in men's clothes." She said in a tone that conveyed the believed audacity of doing such a thing.

Emma rolled her eyes, but complied. Merlin held out a hand to help her stand, in case she was still dizzy. She accepted it gratefully, as her head was still very angry and the painkillers hadn't quite set in yet. As it turns out, it was also necessary. As she stood, the sudden difference in heights left her head spinning, and she stumbled right into Merlin's chest. He grabbed her to hold her steady until she found her balance; at that point, both blushed and Merlin quickly dropped his arms to his sides.

"Thank you, Merlin." Emma said quietly, trying to hide the blush creeping up her face.

Unbeknownst to Emma or Merlin, Gwen was watching their interaction with a knowing smile.

"Here you go." Gwen said, handing her one of the dresses and breaking up the awkward silence. The two girls headed into Merlin's room so that Emma could change.

A few minutes later, they emerged. Emma was wearing a light blue and white dress, and her hair was freshly brushed, hanging around her face and off of her shoulders in soft brown curls. Even though the dress wasn't of expensive make, she still looked beautiful. The only mark was the large bruise on her head, which had turned several impressive shades of blue and purple. The pain meds had begun to kick in however, so her headache was much more manageable.

"I'll take you to see Arthur now if you're okay with that, Emma." Merlin replied

Emma gave a nervous nod and giggle. "Yeah, that's fine. Let's just hope I don't make a fool of myself." She said, crossing her fingers for luck.

Turning to Gwen, she adds, "Thanks so much for the dress, Gwen. It is very appreciated."

Gwen and Emma shared friendly smiles. "Of course, it was nice to meet you." Gwen says, heading out the door.

"You should get going, Merlin." Gaius tells the warlock. "Arthur will probably have a list of chores for you to do for him."

Merlin grumbled under his breath about annoying princes and their overload of chores as he and Emma left the physician's chambers and headed into the main part of the castle.

"Chores?" Emma asked curiously.

"Yeah, I'm Arthur manservant, or in other words: the person who does everything that the prince should be able to do for himself by now."

"Wait, you're his manservant?" Emma asked, confused. This whole situation was just becoming more and more confusing with every fact that she learned. She didn't remember ever reading or hearing about that in the legends.

"Yeah, I'm Prince Arthur's manservant. I have been for a couple of years now." Merlin replied, leading Emma through a group of servants heading the other way.

The duo fell silent as Emma concocted a story to tell Arthur should he ask about her past. Telling the prince that she had come from the year 2012, and had simply woken up in the Middle Ages wouldn't go over well. She'd probably be arrested for sorcery, or witchcraft, or whatever it is that they called it here.

When they finally arrived at Prince Arthur's chambers, Merlin pushed the door open without even knocking. They entered to find Arthur at his desk, working on paperwork. When he saw who had entered, he donned a smile and motioned for them to sit down.

"Emma. I was hoping to see you sometime soon. How are you feeling?" Arthur asked politely as she sat in a chair in front of his desk.

"I am feeling much better, although my head is still somewhat sore." Emma admitted. "How are you, Sire?"

"I am well, thank you. And that is good to hear." Arthur replied. Sitting back, he gave Emma a searching look. "I wanted to thank you for saving my life; what you did was very impressive."

"Thank you, your highness." Emma said respectfully.

"Arthur." The prince corrected, giving her a smile.

"Arthur." Emma grinned.

"Emma, I've been wondering." Arthur said, "What were you doing in that part of the woods alone? Do you have any family that we can send word to, to let them know that you're okay?"

_That would be slightly difficult._ Emma thought. She just shook her head and started in on her own made up story.

"I was traveling alone." Emma replied. "I am from a land far to the north. My homeland has been torn apart by civil war. The land has been ravaged, nothing will grow well and disease runs rampant. My mother died a couple of years ago, from disease." She saw a sympathetic look come over Arthur's face at the mention of her mother's fake death.

Although in reality, her mother really was dead. Or she just hadn't been born yet. Was that considered dead? Although Emma hadn't actually been born yet either, so what did that make her? _Ugh, time travel messes with the mind. _Emma complained.

"After she died, the war grew even fiercer. My father, a soldier in the army, was killed in the fighting a couple of months ago." Emma's voice cracked at the word killed, as she thought about her own father. "I had no other family in the area, but my mother told me that she was originally from Camelot. If anything were to happen to them, I was to make my way here to try and find them.

"I was traveling through the forest when I slipped down an embankment and hit my head. The next thing that I knew, I had been grabbed by those bandits, and that is when I met you two." Emma motioned to both Arthur and Merlin. "What happened after that, I am afraid that I only remember in bits and pieces. You will know better than I would what happened." Emma finished.

Arthur gave her a look that was both sympathetic and regal at the same time. "I am sorry for your losses, and the terrible events that you have suffered through." He said understandingly.

Merlin put a hand on her arm, and gave her a sad smile that managed to convey all of his feelings of understanding and sympathy.

After digging into one of the drawers of his desk, Arthur pulled out a small bag which he tossed to Emma. When she caught it, the chink of metal on metal sounded, peaking her curiosity. When she opened the bag, she realized with a gasp that it was filled with a myriad of silver and gold coins.

"I… I don't know what to say." Emma said breathlessly. "Thank you, Arthur."

Merlin saw inside of the bag, and whistled appreciatively. "How come you never give me a reward like that when I save your ungrateful arse?" Merlin asked indignantly.

"You were rewarded, remember, _Mer_lin?" Arthur retorted.

Merlin scoffed. "Being given the job of cleaning up after you're lazy self is not a reward. It's more of a punishment."

Emma couldn't help it, she started giggling at their antics. The two boys were acting like friends, brothers, rather than a prince and servant. _It's a bromance!_ Emma realized with another giggle.

Both boys quickly shut up at the sound of her giggling, looking sheepish. "What will you do now?" Arthur asked her, trying to turn their attention from his and Merlin's antics.

_What am I going to do now?_ Emma wondered briefly. "I'm not entirely sure. I was hoping to stay in Camelot for a time while I figure it out."

"Of course. I would offer you a room in the palace, but my father insists that they be reserved for the visiting nobility only." Arthur informed her, apologetic.

"She can stay with me and Gaius." Merlin offered. "He already gave his permission."

Emma was fighting not to be floored by everything that they were doing for her, a feeling which only grew when Arthur added, "If you decide to stay in Camelot, you will be more than welcome. I will do what I can to help you find work within the palace."

Jaw dropping in shock, Emma managed to stammer out, "Thank you, Sire. For everything."

Arthur nodded. "You saved my life. I am merely repaying that debt."

Merlin glanced at her face, and then told Arthur, "I should probably take her back to Gaius's. He told her to get some rest, and he'll have my hide if I don't get her back."

"Of course." Arthur nodded, before turning to Merlin with a wicked grin that promised extra work for him. "And Merlin, once you have escorted Miss Emma back to the physician's chambers, you can get to work on chores. My armor needs polishing, the laundry needs to be taken, my chambers are a mess, and the stables need mucking out."

Standing up, Emma curtsied while Merlin threw Arthur an annoyed look. "Yes, _sire_." Merlin replied mockingly, his tone turning the last word into an insult rather than a name of respect.

Merlin led Emma back to the physician's chambers, the two talking and joking amiably as they walked. When they reached the door, Gaius was setting out three bowls of soup for lunch. With a start, Emma realized that she was actually starving.

Without even bothering to taste it, Emma quickly wolfed down the soup, along with Merlin, who practically inhaled it. "In a hurry, you two?" Gaius said dryly.

"Yeah, Arthur has a list of chores for me to do, and I need to get him his lunch before he gets even more cranky and gives me even more chores." Merlin complained.

"I'm just hungry. I can't remember the last time that I ate." Emma admitted, putting another spoonful of soup in her mouth. "This is very delicious by the way." Emma added.

"Thank you." Gaius replied, a pleased smile coming over his face. "How is your head feeling?"

"Better. I still have a headache, but it's manageable."

Inhaling the last of his soup, Merlin pushed himself up from the table. "I should go before Arthur throws one of his princely fits. Bye, Gaius. See you later, Emma." Merlin called as he walked out of the door.

Gaius just shook his head at the antics of his ward, and offered Emma some bread.

"Thanks." Emma accepted the piece of bread and dipped it into the bowl of soup. "And thank you for offering to let me stay with you for a few days." Emma said gratefully. "I can't tell you how much I appreciate it."

Gaius gave her a kind smile. "It is our pleasure, Emma."

The rest of the meal was eaten in companionable silence. Emma glanced around the room once more, taking in the sight of the multitude of books, as she thought about everything that had happened to her in the last day. What was going on back home? Thinking of home, how was she supposed to even get home?

Well, magic was the most obvious way. But that would mean asking for Merlin's help, which would mean revealing that she knew about Merlin's magic. If simply having magic was punishable by death, how would he react to that? But, if she was to get his help, she was going to have to tell him eventually.

Those thoughts kept running around and around in her head, until Emma was worried she would begin to go crazy from them.

_Although it's a bit late for that_. Emma snorted in amusement.

When they were both done, and the dishes were taken care of, Gaius pulled out some medicine to apply to the bruise on her head. He informed her that it would help the swelling to go down and the bruise to clear up faster.

After he was done treating Emma's head again, Gaius began to pull down various herbs and crushed them with the pestle and mortar to make more remedies with.

Emma watched for a few moments as he separated, crushed, and mixed with experienced hands, before asking curiously, "What are you making?"

Apparently, that was the right question to ask to get Gaius to start talking. He started in, talking about the remedy he was making, the herbs he was using, and various uses for those herbs. Emma prodded him with curious questions when he stopped, and the pair continued talking amiably for hours.

For Gaius, it was a great feeling to teach a young mind about that which he had spent his life devoted to. For Emma, it was a mix of curiosity and a way to distract herself from the thoughts and questions that had been plaguing her since she had last woken up.

* * *

When Merlin finally got back from doing his daily chores late that evening, he looked exhausted. But he still gave Emma a grin as he walked in and joined her at the table. "How is your head?" Merlin asked.

"Feeling much better, thanks." Emma replied, returning the grin. "How did your chores go?"

"Oh, you know. Mucking out the stables was most definitely the highlight of my day." Merlin joked.

"Even more so than cleaning up the prince's room and polishing his armor?" Emma teased.

Merlin gave her a wry grin. "Of course."

"How do you keep your excitement in check with all of the fun you've been having?" Emma giggled.

"With plenty of practice." He replied.

Unable to help his chuckling, Merlin greeted Gaius, who had been watching the pair joke around with an amused smile. "Dinner's about ready, since we decided to wait until you got back before we ate." Gaius informed him, making a show of looking out the window towards the slowly setting sun.

"Sorry, Gaius. Chores for Arthur took awhile." Merlin apologized.

Gaius gave him an understanding smile as he set down a plate in front of the two young adults; each had a piece of chicken and some vegetables. "Wow, thanks Gaius." Merlin said happily before digging in.

"Yeah, thank you so much Gaius. I owe you both, especially for offering to let me stay with you for a few days." Picking up the pouch from where it had been hanging from her belt, she offered the money to Gaius. "Here, you two should take this. It's the least that I can do for you after everything you've done for me."

Gaius immediately refused, and pushed her hand back towards her. "That money was for you, Emma. While it is very thoughtful of you to offer it for us, you have very little for yourself. Use it to get stuff that you will need."

Emma glanced at Merlin, who was nodding vigorously in agreement with a mouth full of chicken. Shaking her head slightly, Emma obliged and tucked the bag back into her belt.

When she looked up, she met Merlin's smiling eyes and the old, wise eyes of Gaius. In that moment, Emma made the decision to the choice she had been considering all day. They had been so kind to her, and she didn't want to lie to them anymore. At least not completely.

"Merlin, there's something I need to tell you." Emma said somberly.

Merlin's grin faltered slightly at her serious tone, and he asked, "Emma, what is it?"

"I…" Emma swallowed, and took a deep breath before steeling herself and opening her mouth.

"Merlin, I know what you are. I know that you have magic."


	4. A Time of Magic

"_I…" Emma swallowed, and took a deep breath before steeling herself and opening her mouth._

"_Merlin, I know what you are. I know that you have magic."_

To say that they were surprised would be an understatement of massive proportions. Merlin's mouth dropped, and Gaius just stared at her with shocked eyes.

Apparently the complete randomness of that confession had shocked them enough that it took Merlin a full minute to try denying it.

"I… I… I don't know what you're talking about. I don't have magic." Merlin contradicted, but his argument sounded weak even to her.

"I'm not going to tell anyone, I swear." Emma promised quietly, ignoring his terrible job at a denial. "I know that magic is illegal in Camelot."

"Really?" Merlin asked anxiously. All of his fears of being discovered and his desperation for acceptance just seemed to leak out in that one word.

She gave him a small smile. "Really. It doesn't bother me that you have magic, and I'm not going to tell anyone. I'll swear it on my life, or give you my word, or whatever it is that you do when you make serious promises around here."

Merlin's anxiousness calmed somewhat, and Gaius finally relaxed his shocked pose, but still looked suspicious. "How did you find out?" Gaius asked.

Well, actually she learned about them from the legends of King Arthur and they were confirmed by an overly annoying voice in her head, but she couldn't exactly talk about that at this point.

"I overheard you two talking." Emma said instead. "When we first came back to Camelot. You were telling Gaius about what had happened with the bandits, and Gaius, you were talking about something called the Purge, and how Camelot has been attacked several times because of it. You warned Merlin to be extra careful not to say anything about his magic around me, because you weren't sure if I could be trusted." She finished in a tone that was not at all accusing, but understanding.

She may not understand what the situation was exactly with magic in Camelot, but she knew enough from what she had heard of their conversation to understand why they had been wary of her.

Both Merlin and Gaius seemed to flinch at her statement. "I'm sorry about that, Emma." Merlin apologized soundly.

"You have nothing to be sorry for." Emma gave him an understanding smile. "I may not know much about the situation in Camelot, but I gathered enough to know that if the wrong person finds out about your magic, that you could be killed for it. In that case, trusting a complete stranger would be stupid on your part. I understand that, and so neither of you has anything to be sorry for. I'm the one who is supposed to prove that I'm trustworthy to you, not the other way around."

Merlin gave her a blazing grin before pulling her into an unexpected hug. Heart leaping in her chest, Emma returned the hug before pulling back to give him a confused look. "Thank you. For not revealing my secret." Merlin thanked her breathlessly.

Emma returned the grin as understanding hit her. "Of course." Then, as another thought came to her, she bit her lip before asking, "I was wondering. Could you show me? Your magic, I mean."

Merlin just stared at her wordlessly for a moment, and then his lopsided grin got even bigger. "Sure." He agreed. Cupping his hands, he whispered, "Forbearnan". With a flash of his eyes, to Emma's shock and amazement, a small orange and yellow flame blinked into existence in the palm of his hand. It jumped around merrily, like any other flame, yet it didn't seem to burn his hand.

In awe, Emma reached out a hand before she pulled back slightly. "Can I…" she motioned to the small flame. When Merlin nodded, she slowly reached her fingers out towards the small flickering flame. As her fingers got close to the flame, she instinctively flinched her hand back, expecting her hand to be burned. To her utter surprise, it didn't hurt her hand at all!

Gathering more courage, Emma held her fingers over the flame without flinching. "It's warm!" She uttered, in shock and awe at the sight of the small flame that didn't actually burn either of their hands.

Innumerable emotions flooded through her in a rush at that moment. At that moment, she realized that she truly wasn't dreaming, and she was actually in Camelot, with the wizard Merlin (who apparently wasn't actually an old man! Her history teacher was going to be shocked when he found out). Magic actually exists, she had actually met Prince Arthur, and she was actually in the past. In the past!

Although a small part of her was worried about that, and stunned that magic actually exists, most of her was concentrating on the small flame that had materialized into existence. It was beautiful!

Merlin watched Emma's face carefully as he brought the flame jumping to life in his hand. All of his life, whenever anyone without magic had seen any type of magic being done, there was usually screaming, running, and/or yelling for guards involved. At the very least, most people were afraid or wary whenever they saw anything like magic.

But with Emma, there was none of that. There was absolutely no fear running through her face, just a look of awe and wonder. Something in that gaze gave Merlin a sense of happiness, and he decided to take it another step further to see what she would think.

With another flash of his eyes, the fire condensed and shifted to form a small curled up dragon the size of a golf ball. A touch of magic, and the fire dragon began to uncurl, spreading its wings and stretching out its neck before taking off in flight, flying circles and fancy acrobatics in front of them.

"Wow. It's beautiful." Emma breathed, watching the tiny dragon flying fancily through the air. After a few more turns and spins, the small dragon of fire blinked out of existence as Merlin ended the spell.

"That was amazing!" Emma gushed happily, grabbing at Merlin's arm. "I've never seen anything like it. Thank you."

"No, thank you." Merlin replied, a happy smile forming and refusing to leave. "It's great to use magic in front of someone without them yelling for guards."

"Believe me, that's that last thing I'll be doing." Emma looked thoughtful for a moment before she asked, "I know next to nothing about Camelot and its history. Why is magic illegal? What was the Purge? Merlin, why are you even here if magic is illegal and you could be killed for it if caught?"

"Eat your supper, and then we can talk." Gaius motioned to the forgotten food in front of them, finally joining in the conversation.

Both young adults quickly dug into their food so that they could get to the story. Once they were done, the story of the Purge came out. Merlin and Gaius took turns telling of the death of a queen, the grief of a king, and how that grief had cemented into rage against anyone with magic. Then Merlin told her about how he had been sent to Camelot when his powers had grown. How he had saved Prince Arthur's life at that first banquet, and how he had been given a job as Arthur's manservant by the king as a reward.

"And so I've become Arthur and Camelot's secret guardian, defending the city from the shadows against magical threats, or threats of any kind really." Merlin finished solemnly. By this time, the sky outside was black, and several candles were sitting on the table, giving light to the area.

"Wow." Emma said simply, her mind still in the process of being blown. _Learning about history in a musty old classroom is so much different from experiencing it, and hearing about it from someone who was actually there._ Emma mused.

"Now, Emma, you should get some sleep. While you may not have had any serious side effects from your concussion, you still need to get plenty of rest." Gaius ordered, shifting into the in-charge physician tone, complete with the raised eyebrow.

Emma tried to argue, considering she never went to bed so early back home. "But…"

"No, I won't hear any argument. You two can talk about magic at another time, right now, you both should get to bed." Gaius said sternly, throwing a glance at his ward.

Although she wanted to argue more, Emma got the feeling that she was being ushered out so that Gaius and Merlin could talk on their own, without her listening. "Yes, sir." Emma sighed petulantly.

"The room up those steps is mine. You can use my bed." Said Merlin, motioning towards the right door for emphasis.

"But…"

"No buts, Emma." Merlin told her firmly. "You are the guest. Besides, I want to."

Giving up on arguing when it obviously wasn't getting her anywhere, Emma just shook her head slightly and smiled. "Thanks, Merlin." She replied, grabbing her backpack to take with her. She trudged up the steps and closed the door behind her.

* * *

Merlin and Gaius watched as Emma tiredly plodded up the stairs and quietly shut the door behind her.

"She really is something." Merlin said quietly, mindful of the fact that the door to his room wasn't very thick. "How was she this afternoon? What did you think of her?"

"She seemed like a very sweet young lady." Gaius replied. "Very curious, and with a bright mind as well. We were talking about medicine for some of the time, and she even seemed a little knowledgeable on it."

"When she went to see Arthur this afternoon, she told Arthur about where she came from. From what I've heard, she's had a rough time of it. Both of her parents are dead; apparently she came to escape a war, and to start over." Merlin explained.

Gaius looked thoughtful for a minute. "Well, she knows about your magic now. You'll have to make sure to keep an eye on her, just in case." He put a hand up to quell Merlin's reply when he opened his mouth indignantly, and continued, "I know that you believe she is trustworthy, and I believe that too. Her reaction and words seemed genuine, and she seems like a very sweet person. But you can never be too careful, especially with a secret like yours."

"Yeah, you're right." Merlin sighed. "I should also get some sleep, Arthur wants to be woken up early tomorrow for training."

"All right, my boy. Good night." Gaius said, offering him a blanket.

"Good night, Gaius." Merlin said, grabbing the proffered blanket and yawning into his hand as he also walked up the stairs into his room. He knocked lightly, just in case, and when no sound was heard he opened the door.

Inside, Emma had conked out on his bed, already breathing deeply and sound asleep. She was laying on her stomach with her head to the side, and her hand was on her pack which was laying against the left side of the bed.

"Good night, Emma." Merlin whispered softly, spreading out the blanket on the hard floor and using bags as a pillow. Not too much later, he also fell asleep and entered the land of dreams and infinite possibilities.

* * *

The next morning, Emma awoke to a stream of sunlight hitting her square in the face through the open window. She smiled dreamily for a moment before sitting up in bed, panicked. "My alarm! Why didn't…"

Her voice trailed off as she looked around the room, and remembered where she was. "Right. I don't have an alarm. Because I'm in Camelot, and electricity hasn't been discovered yet. And I'm staying with Merlin, the wizard." She giggled madly. "Merlin! A real life wizard! Oh my gosh, I still can't believe it! Even though I'm trapped in the past, and may never go home," A pang of sadness rushed through her at that thought, but she pushed it down, "which totally sucks, that is still so cool!"

Looking around the room once more, Emma realized that she was alone. Although she briefly wondered where Merlin was, that gave her an opportunity to look through her backpack without anyone seeing what was inside.

Picking up her bag, and dumping out everything inside onto the small cot. There was her water bottle, some food that had gotten slightly squished, the pain meds that she was thanking God for, and a few other items. But the thing that made her the most nervous about anybody finding tumbled out last. It, like the knife, had been a gift from her father that she carried around with her almost everywhere. What was it that made her so nervous?

It was a history book.

Her father had always been a history buff. He absolutely loved learning and quoting facts and dates at her even if they didn't fit the situation. The book was supposed to be an 18th birthday present, although he hadn't had a chance to give it to her before…

_No, don't think of that right now._ Emma told herself.

The book itself was rather plain looking, with only a light brown leather cover that made it look rather like many of the books in Gaius's chambers. But inside was a rather comprehensive overview of the important events in history, from the Egyptians to the attack on the World Trade Center. It was a thick book, and heavy, but Emma couldn't bear to part with it. So she had carried it around with her nearly everywhere.

And apparently, everywhere included medieval times in Camelot and the time of King Arthur and the Round Table.

Opening the book up, Emma trailed her fingers over the page as she read over the short message written inside the front cover in her dad's handwriting. In her father's messy handwriting, it said: **May the mistakes of the past light the way to a brighter future. Happy 18****th**** birthday. Love, Dad. **

Emma smiled softly, before she packed everything back into her backpack, making sure to keep the book on the bottom. _I can't let anyone see that book._ She thought with a put-upon sigh. _Who knows what they would think about something like that?_

Putting the backpack in the corner of the room where hopefully nobody would notice it, Emma finally ventured out the closed door and into the main room.

In the main room of the chambers, Gaius was working at one of the tables on some sort of experiment, and Merlin was nowhere to be seen. "Morning, Gaius." Emma greeted cheerfully.

Gaius looked over his shoulder to see her standing there. "Good morning, Emma! How are you feeling this morning?"

"Great! My head is a little sore, but nothing like it was yesterday." Emma grinned. "What are you doing?"

"Just running a little experiment. There's a bowl of porridge for you by the fire, if you're hungry." Gaius offered, motioning his head in the direction of the fireplace.

"Thanks, Gaius." Emma said, heading to the grab the bowl. Although once she saw what was in it, she nearly took back what she said. In the bowl was what looked like a runny version of oatmeal. Grimacing, Emma brought a spoonful to her mouth to discover that it tasted about what it looked like, bland and lumpy. _What I wouldn't give for pancakes or an omelet right about now._ _Or even a bowl of cereal._ She thought longingly.

After she forced herself to eat the porridge, Emma quickly washed the bowl and spoon and set it up to dry.

"Got any plans for today, Emma?" Gaius asked curiously.

Emma thought for a moment, before she said "I thought I'd use some of that money that the prince gave me to get some clothes of my own, that way I can give Gwen back the dresses that I borrowed. Is there something that I can do for you?"

"No, no, I am fine for now. If I were you, I'd find a good way to hide that money while you're shopping. Although thievery is severely punished, pickpockets do roam the market." Gaius suggested.

"Thanks, that's a good idea." Emma said, running up the steps to grab the sack of money that Arthur had given her. Because it was much too large to be carrying on her belt, and apparently actual pockets hadn't been invented yet, (she had to stop herself from rolling her eyes at that thought. How could they not have thought of pockets yet, especially for girls! It made no sense!) Emma split some of the money into two smaller sacks. One of those she broke up into smaller amounts, which she tucked into her hiking boots. She had refused to take off her boots in favor of the dainty shoes or high heels that the women around the castle normally wore.

Although it felt a little uncomfortable for her ankles, it would keep her money from getting stolen by pickpockets.

"Thanks again, Gaius." Emma said, turning back to wave. But as she turned, her foot caught on the leg of one of the benches, which Emma proceeded to stumble and nearly fall over. Luckily, she had fairly fast reflexes, and she managed to catch herself on the table.

Smiling sheepishly after that little accident, Emma told Gaius goodbye and left the physician chuckling under his breath. She left the physician's chambers, only to find she had no idea of how to get out of the castle, or where exactly the market was. She hadn't exactly been conscious when she went though the town.

"Great." She huffed under her breath. She was about to cross her fingers and set off in a random direction when she saw a familiar head of dark hair turning around the corner.

"Gwen!" Emma exclaimed loudly, rushing to catch up with her.

Gwen poked her head back around the corner, giving the other girl a smile when she recognized who it was. "Hello, Emma." She greeted with a smile, although there was a hint of sadness behind it.

"Hey Gwen! I am so glad to see you. I'm kind of a bit lost. Or really lost, actually."

Gwen gave her a friendly smile. "That's alright, plenty of people lose their way at some point, especially if they don't have that great of a memory for directions. Not that I'm saying you don't have a good memory, not at all! I mean, you were unconscious, so of course you wouldn't remember, but it's just…"

Biting her lip to keep from laughing, Emma put a hand up to stop her. "Its fine Gwen, I know what you meant. Do you have time to help me find my way out?"

"Sure, I have plenty of time." Gwen assured her. "I found out that I'm not needed in the palace today. I'm heading home to work on some seamstress jobs that I do on the side, so that I can earn some money."

"You work as a seamstress?" Emma asked curiously.

"Yes, I do. It's a way of earning money other than my job as a servant." Gwen explained. "You said you were heading somewhere?"

Emma started, having forgotten the reason she stopped Gwen in the first place. "Right!" She agreed, laughing at her own forgetfulness. "I thought I'd head to the market to buy some clothes and supplies of my own. But, I realized I have no idea how to get there. Any way you could help?"

"I can show you how to get to the market. I'm heading that direction myself." Gwen offered, motioning up the hallway. The duo started walking in the direction that Gwen had

Giving Gwen a sideways glance, Emma smiled and said, "Gwen, how would you like to come with me? I know you said you have sewing to do, but I could honestly use the help picking out clothes. It would be fun! Please?" Emma pleaded.

Gwen gave her a friendly grin. "That sounds like fun." She replied as they made their way through the castle.


	5. Suspicious Kings and Odd Dreams

To those who paid any sort of attention, the sight of two girls walking through the lower town, talking and giggling, was not an unusual sight.

Emma and Gwen walked through the morning crowds of people, as Gwen led the way to the right shops for Emma to find everything that she needed.

"What all do you need to get?" Gwen asked, looking at the various signs for shops and stalls.

Emma thought for a moment. She had no idea how long she would be stuck in the past; it could be weeks or even months! To be safe she should get any necessities that she would need, as well as clothes. Silently, she thanked God that Arthur had been kind enough to give her money. "Pretty much everything." Emma admitted sheepishly.

Gwen stopped in the middle of the street, pausing in her search of the shops to look concerned at Emma. "You don't have anything?" Before Emma could say another word, Gwen blushed lightly and began tripping over her own words at a faster rate, "Not that that's a bad thing, although it is terrible that you don't own anything; not that I think you're poor…"

"It's okay, Gwen." Emma laughed softly. She repeated the story that she had told Arthur and Merlin the day before, adding, "Anything valuable I owned went into food and shelter in my travels, which included most of my clothing. So I really do own very little."

Gwen paled a little, and suddenly wrapped her arms around Emma in a comforting embrace, ignoring anybody who might stop and stare. "I am so sorry for everything that has happened to you." Gwen whispered in her ear.

Feeling a twinge of guilt in the pit of her stomach for all of the lies that she had been telling, Emma nevertheless gave her a hug back, and whispered, "Thank you."

Gwen took a step back and motioned to the stores in front of her. "So, where would you like to start?"

For the next couple of hours, Gwen and Emma wandered from shop to shop, picking up things that Emma would need, as well as looking for clothes. Emma couldn't remember the last time that she had had such fun as the girls giggled and tried on different outfits and accessories. They bought her an already made light blue dress, as well as a nightgown, and some differently colored material to make a few more. After that, Emma had insisted on buying some leggings and tunics, as she refused to spend all of her time in a dress.

But her favorite purchase had been a dark cerulean blue cloak. The material was soft and light, yet warm enough to wear in the winter. It had been rather expensive, actually one of the more expensive things that she had bought, but worth it.

When they had found everything that they needed, Emma and Gwen made their way back towards Gwen's house so that they could drop off the material for the dresses. Gwen had offered to make the dresses for her.

"I think that this is the most money I've ever helped to spend at one time." Gwen giggled, her arms full of wrapped packages.

"Yeah." Emma agreed lightly. She turned to add another comment when she ran into somebody who had been walking in the middle of the path. Nearly falling over backwards and knocking Gwen down with her, Emma managed to catch both herself and Gwen only to drop the majority of her packages in the dust.

_Great._ Emma thought sarcastically. _Good thing they were wrapped._

She looked up to see who she had run into, and met the gaze of a man, probably in his late thirties. He had light brown hair, and brown eyes. At one point, she might have said he was fairly handsome; if it wasn't for the giant condescending scowl that overwrote everything else.

"Watch where you're going." The man growled, kicking a package out of his way. He continued walking on, but Emma heard him snarl under his breath as he passed, "filthy peasants."

Narrowing her eyes at the stranger's fast disappearing back, she had to resist the urge to throw something at his head, like one of her packages, or better yet her hiking boot.

"Hey, you okay?"

Emma turned to see that Merlin had walked up while she was busy glaring. "Oh hey, Merlin. Yeah, I'm fine. That arse wasn't paying attention to where he was going." She nodded the direction that the stranger had walked.

Merlin grimaced. "That's Sir Calvin, a one of Arthur's knights. He thinks he's God's gift to mankind, and has a terrible lack of respect for anybody below him. In his mind, peasants and servants are worse than the dust on his shoes."

"I thought knights were supposed to be chivalrous and kind." Emma scoffed.

"Yeah, but unfortunately not all of them are like that." Gwen said, bending down to pick up some of the fallen packages.

"Oh, are these yours? Let me help." Merlin offered, picking up as many of the packages as he could.

Emma gave him a soft smile. "Thank you, Merlin."

Gwen told him that they were headed to her house, and the trio made their way through the busy streets. "So what are you doing down in the lower town at this time of day?" Gwen asked Merlin curiously.

"Looking for Emma, actually." Merlin replied.

"Why? Something wrong?" Emma asked, suddenly worried.

"No, nothing's wrong. Gaius sent me to tell you that he is helping with a woman giving birth in the lower town, so he's not going to be back for lunch, and possibly dinner." Merlin explained.

By this time, they had made it to Gwen's house. All three of them dumped their packages on Gwen's table, and Gwen began sorting them for the material that she would be keeping to make the clothing.

"I hope the woman he's helping is all right." Emma replied. "Should I just buy something while I'm in the market?"

"Here, Emma." Gwen interrupted, motioning to a still fairly large pile of packages. "I'll get you those clothes sometime in the next couple of days."

"Thanks, Gwen. I really appreciate it. And thanks for coming shopping with me, I had fun." Emma grinned.

"So did I." Gwen agreed with a big smile. "Maybe someday we'll have a chance to go again."

"That would be great. But now I should probably let you get to work." Emma said as she and Merlin walked to the door.

"Bye, Gwen." Merlin waved.

"Bye Merlin, Emma." Gwen replied, already going about unpacking the material for the dresses.

Merlin closed the door behind them, and he and Emma made their way back through the market. As they walked, Emma used some of her remaining money to buy her and Merlin some apples and honey-swirled bread. Many of the people gave Merlin a smile and greetings; apparently he was fairly well liked by the people in the lower town. When they made it back to the physician's quarters, they both dropped the packages off in Merlin's room.

"I should get back. Arthur was feeling particularly cranky today, so he gave me a huge list of chores. He'll kill me if I don't get them done." Merlin shook his head.

"Care for some company?" Emma asked. "I could help if you needed it."

Merlin raised an eyebrow. "You want to help with chores?" He questioned, disbelief clear across his face. "But you're not a servant."

"So?" And yes, a large part of Emma's mind was complaining loudly at the thought of doing unnecessary chores, but she calmly told it to shut up. "I literally have nothing better to do. If I don't help you, I'd be stuck here going crazy staring at walls or reading about all the wonderful uses of medicinal herbs." She grimaced at that thought.

Merlin seemed to understand that as well, because he grinned and nodded. "Sure. I'd love the help."

"Where do we start?" Emma asked, eager to get going. Maybe she could learn more about magic, and the wizard so many legends were based on, in the process.

"Arthur's room. It needs to be cleaned." Merlin replied, giving her a manic grin as they left.

* * *

A couple hours later, Merlin was wiping down various surfaces in Arthur's room while Emma leaned against Arthur's desk. Merlin was currently regaling her with the story of when Arthur had been enchanted by a Sidhe and nearly drowned, and how he had once again saved the prat's life.

"Of course, if it wasn't for Morgana…" Merlin's voice dropped off, and a look of guilt and anguish passed over his face before it became stoic.

Morgana… Morgana… why did that name sound familiar? Emma puzzled over that for a moment before giving up and asking, "Who is Morgana? I remember Arthur mentioned her. She's been kidnapped, right?"

Again guilt flashed across his face, but as he leaned against the desk beside her he still replied, "Yeah she was, nearly a year ago. Morgana was… is Uther's ward. She had been living her in Camelot ever since the death of her father when she was ten. She was kidnapped by a sorceress during an invasion here in Camelot, and hasn't been seen or heard from since."

Emma sensed that there was more to that story, but before she could ask, a sharp pain exploded through her head. The image of a beautiful young woman with black hair and grey-green eyes flashed very quickly in front of her eyes before it was gone.

"Emma, you all right?" Merlin voice broke in, concerned. He was gently tugging on Emma's arm, which she didn't even realize she had brought up to her head.

"Yeah!" Emma assured him in a bright voice, even though she had no idea what had just happened. She snatched the cleaning cloth out of his hand and kept going where he had left off.

Merlin merely watched with a raised eyebrow. "Emma, maybe you should go rest. Your head was pretty banged up, and you've only been up for a day. You know Gaius will not be happy if you hurt yourself more trying to pretend you're fine."

Emma didn't get a chance to respond before Arthur walked through the door. "Merlin, do you know where…" His voice trailed off as he saw who else was in the room. "I knew you were a lazy servant, _Mer_lin, but now you're making a girl do your chores?" Arthur mocked.

"He didn't make me do anything, I volunteered. I was bored, and had nothing to do." Emma defended.

"And I was just trying to get her to go rest." Merlin finished wryly, taking the cleaning cloth back.

"She can't right now, unfortunately. Emma has a summons from my father." Arthur informed them.

Jaw dropped, Emma gaped at Arthur for a long moment. "Your father? You mean, the king?" At Arthur's nod, she added, "What does he want with me?"

"He heard about what happened, and wants to meet you and publicly thank you for what you did." Arthur replied.

Opening and closing her mouth a couple of times, Emma finally squeaked, "Okay."

"We shouldn't keep him waiting." Arthur said, turning to go.

Merlin dropped the rag and followed behind him with Emma. "It'll be fine." He whispered. "Just curtsy when you're introduced, answer any questions he asks, and try not to say anything about magic." Emma simply nodded, still looking pale.

When they reached the throne room, Merlin slipped off into the crowd of courtiers milling around while Arthur led Emma closer to the throne. And older looking man was sitting on the throne, discussing something in low tones with a knight. He had graying hair and a scar over his left eye that Emma could only guess came from a sword. When he saw who was approaching, he waved off the knight and sat straighter on his throne.

"Father," Arthur said respectfully. "This is Emma Thomas, the girl I told you about who helped us fight those bandits."

Some of the courtiers around Emma began to murmur indistinctly as she stepped forward and curtsied slightly. "Your Majesty." She said. "You wished to see me?"

Uther seemed to size her up for a moment before saying, "Yes. Arthur told me of how you aided them when he was captured by bandits; you have my kingdom's and my personal gratitude."

"Thank you, Sire." Emma replied, not sure exactly what else to say to that.

"So how did you come to be in Camelot? Were you traveling alone?" Uther asked, a slight tinge of suspicion in his voice. Emma suspected that he usually sounded that way. From what she had heard, Uther was overly suspicious except where it seemed to count.

So Emma repeated the story she had made up for the others: the death of her parents, escape from a war torn country, and finally making it to Camelot. Towards the end, she began to get some sympathetic looks from various courtiers.

"In your travels, did you hear anything about a kidnapped woman named Morgana?" Uther asked when she was done.

Shaking her head, she answered, "No, I'm sorry your Majesty, but I haven't heard anything. The first time I even heard the name was from Prince Arthur when he mentioned she was missing."

"I see." Uther replied solemnly. "Should you decide to remain in Camelot, you would be welcome. My son will find you work somewhere in the castle. For now, I'm afraid that I have important matters that need attending. Arthur, I also need a word with you." He waved his hand in a dismissive gesture, and all of the courtiers began to file out of the room, with Emma not far behind.

When she was finally clear, she let out a shaky breath. _Well that was interesting._ Emma snorted. _Trying to talk like a medieval person is a lot harder than it seems it would be. At least he didn't have me arrested or something like that._

She jumped when a hand appeared on her shoulder, and turned to see Merlin standing behind her. "Why don't you go get some rest in Gaius's chambers? I'll see you later when I'm finished with chores."

"Okay, fine." She looked around for a second before asking, "How do I get there again?"

Merlin chuckled and gave her directions, and told her to ask one of the other servants if she got lost. With a manic grin, he ambled off in the direction they had come from.

Sighing, Emma wandered off in the opposite direction. After only managing to get lost twice, she finally made it to Gaius's chambers to find they were still empty. Suddenly tired, and dealing with a headache, Emma went into Merlin's room and collapsed on the bed.

* * *

_Arthur looked around the small battle scene, looking for the person who had just saved his life by throwing a spear at the bandit approaching him from behind. What met his eyes was the sight of Merlin, his manservant, cowering behind a tree. _

"_We're not playing hide and seek, Merlin." Arthur snapped, and walked off to find more of the bandits to fight. They had come searching for Morgana, and had instead found this bandit encampment in the middle of the woods. _

"_Dollophead." Merlin huffed, before scrambling up to follow Arthur._

_With the bandits beaten, the knights began to search the camp looking for clues. Arthur and Merlin, who stood in the middle of it all, heard the tell-tale crack of a stick and immediately turned that way to search for more bandits. Arthur drew his sword and slowly approached the area of the sound, with Merlin watching his back wearing a determined expression._

_A hazy figure slowly became visible, stumbling its way through the trees. A young woman with dirty black hair and grayish-green eyes in a rumpled purple dress staggered her way into view. As the woman's face became more visible, something in Merlin's face shifted. Grief, guilt and shock flicked their way across his face. _

_Arthur, on the other hand, simply looked astonished. He dropped the point of the sword down, and opened his mouth…_

Emma's eyes suddenly shot open, her head aching and her heart beating like mad. She hadn't even realized she had fallen asleep before she had that bizarre dream. It was the same woman she had seen earlier in the day. _Who in the world is she? And for that matter, what in the world is wrong with my head! I mean, I've plenty of odd dreams before but… _"That one sure takes the cake." She finished her thought out loud.

A quick look out the window told Emma that she hadn't been sleeping all that long, an hour at the most. Bored, she grabbed the sketch pad out of her backpack and grabbed a pencil, intent on drawing the girl who had been haunting her all day.

Flipping to the first page in the brand new sketch pad, Emma set to work on her new drawing. Without even realizing it, she started humming under her breath as she worked.

A couple of hours later found Emma sitting at the table, putting more work into her sketch of the girl's portrait. It was still largely uncompleted, there was really only enough done to recognize it was supposed to be a person. She had begun to draw the young woman as she had seen her earlier in the day, with clean hair and some rather dark eye makeup on.

She was working on shading the hair when an exhausted looking Merlin walked through the door and collapsed onto the bench next to her, dropping his head to the table with a loud _thunk_. She wasn't sure if he even knew she was there when he started mumbling under his breath about prattish princes, and annoying kings and how he never got a break.

Feeling a bit sorry for the young man, Emma left her nearly completed drawing lying on the table and stood up behind him. A few times when her mom had come home totally stressed from work, Emma had given her a small shoulder massage. Her mother had certainly never complained.

But when she put her hands gently on Merlin's shoulders, the young man jumped. "Oh, hey Emma." He said sheepishly, looking back at her over his shoulder. "I sort of forgot you were here."

"It's fine, that's kind of what I figured." Emma replied, putting her hands back on his shoulders. "Am I not supposed to do this?" She asked nervously. Having to figure out customs of a time long past by trial and error was getting slightly annoying.

"No, it's totally fine." Merlin replied, giving her another curious glance. "Although, what exactly are you doing?"

Emma gave him a half grin. "Have you never had a shoulder massage before?"

"Shoulder mass-age? Er, can't say I have." Merlin shook his head, confused at the strange word. "What would that be?"

Her half grin turned into a full blown smile. "You'll love it, trust me." Emma replied, forcing his head around so that he was facing forward. When he tried to turn it back, she pushed his head forward again. "Just relax." She ordered, ignoring the snort that came from Merlin.

His tune quickly changed into a low moan of enjoyment when she set to work on the muscles in his shoulders and neck. "You are one big knot." Emma grumbled, although she was enjoying Merlin's reaction too much to be truly annoyed.

Both were quiet for a few minutes except for their soft breathing. After about five minutes, however, Emma's hands were starting to cramp up. To distract herself, she asked, "What happened today that got you so upset?"

"Uther told Arthur that we are to set out again in the search for Morgana two days from now." Merlin huffed. "We can't even have a week to catch our breath before we get sent out again."

Emma cocked her head at him, although Merlin couldn't actually see her. She got the sense that something else was also bothering him. "While that is annoying, I get the feeling something else is bothering you." Emma commented. "What's wrong?"

Merlin immediately stilled beneath her hands, his muscles tensing up again. Sighing, Emma dropped her hands and sat down beside him again at the table bench. She sat backwards from him, leaning back against the table so that she could look him in the eye. He was staring at the table top with a stony expression, picking at the wood absentmindedly with a fingernail.

Emma watched him fidget for a moment before reaching over to still his hand. "Look, Merlin, I know that we haven't known each other very long, but I still consider you a friend. I want to help if I can." Merlin still refused to look at her. "Please, tell me what's wrong?" She added softly.

Letting out a long breath, Merlin stared resolutely at the table. "I've done some terrible things, Emma." He replied tiredly.

She put two and two together. "To Morgana?" He nodded. "And it has something to do with her disappearance?" Another nod. "You can tell me, you know. I promise I won't think badly of you." Emma assured him, laying her other hand on his shoulder for comfort.

Without looking at her, Merlin slowly began to relate Morgana's sad tale. How her powers had begun to manifest, first in her nightmares as a seeing ability, and then in random acts of magic that she didn't understand and couldn't control. When he had been forbidden by Gaius to tell her of his own magic, and he had sent her to the Druids in hopes that they could help. But because of his refusal to help her further, she had gone to her half sister for support and acceptance. However, in turn, Morgause had tried to use Morgana to kill off and conquer Camelot using the Knights of Medhir and a sleeping enchantment.

And finally, the worst part of all: that he had been forced to betray and poison one of his closest friends to save Camelot and all of the people within. He told her that he had ended up trading the identity of the poison for the spell to end the Knights of Medhir, and that Morgana had disappeared with Morgause. He didn't even know if she was still alive or not.

When his story was finished, Merlin's voice dropped off, and he stared off at the distance. Emma felt tears start to fill up in her eyes. With a suddenness that caught both of them off guard, Emma threw her arms around his neck in a tight hug.

After hesitating for a moment, Merlin brought his arms up around her back and returned the hug. Another moment passed, and he buried his face in her shoulder, trying to hold back the tears forming in his own eyes. He took a few deep breaths and squeezed her tighter, trying to fight back his own emotions under a semblance of control.

Unable to do anything more than hold him and try to offer comfort, Emma thought over all that she had just heard. It sure put her own problems in perspective, and humbled her at the same time. Merlin had been forced to hide an amazing gift; live in fear for his life and the lives of his family and friends; protect a city and prince that would have killed him without a second thought just because of how he was born, a life that he had never chosen; pushed into the position of an important destiny that he wasn't ready for; and had responsibilities and decisions that no boy his age should have been forced to take on.

Not only that, but Merlin only had Gaius to help him and to talk him when he needed it; not to mention the fact that he seemed to be the type to bottle everything up until he finally exploded. She couldn't even imagine how strong he was and had to be to deal with everything.

Emma resolved that, as long as she was in Camelot, she would do everything in her power to help Merlin, no matter what.


	6. And So It Begins

As soon as Merlin was calm, he squeezed Emma tighter for a moment before backing off slightly. When they looked at each other, Emma realized that their faces were very close together. His warm breath washed over her face as they stared at each other for a long moment, the rest of the world falling away. Emma was suddenly overcome with the urge to kiss him.

But before she could do anything like that, an emotion like grief and guilt clouded his eyes, and he pulled away. Emma flinched, rudely dumped back into the real world, and shook her head slightly to clear it. _What part of _don't fall for important historical figures_ did I not understand!_ Emma berated herself.

Merlin met her eyes again, and opened his mouth to apologize for his actions, when he looked briefly over her shoulder and adopted a curious expression. "What's that?" He asked, nodding over her shoulder.

Wrinkling her forehead in confusion, Emma looked back over her shoulder to see what had drawn Merlin's attention. The only thing she could see was her partially done drawing that was lying on the table. "You mean that drawing?" She verified.

"Mmm-hmm." He nodded absently, avoiding her gaze for some reason.

Emma stood up and turned around on the bench so that she was facing the same way as him. Reaching over and dragging the notebook in front of her, she laughed lightly, hoping to dispel the suddenly awkward atmosphere. "It's mine, actually. I got a bit bored waiting for you or Gaius to get back, so I figured I'd pass the time by drawing."

The drawing was incomplete, so Merlin couldn't recognize who it was. The only thing he could tell was that it was a woman, from the long hair. "Someone you know?" He asked.

"Nah." Emma shrugged. "She was just in some weird dream that I had. You and Arthur were in it as well."

"Oh. What was it about?"

"You and Arthur were in the forest with a group of knights, and were fighting a group of bandits. After they'd been beaten, that girl," she waved absently at the partially done drawing, "stumbled out of the woods and found your group. I woke up after that."

Both fell silent, Merlin mulling over his day, and that almost kiss, while Emma added a few darkened lines in the hair of her drawing.

The sudden slap of palms against skin made Emma jump slightly, lost in thought as she was. Merlin, who had apparently had enough of sitting around quietly, rubbed his hands together and said, "Gaius had some chores he needed me to do, and I'm guessing you'd like the chance to wash up. I'm not sure how long Gaius will be in town, so I'd better get going on those."

"Right." Emma nodded, standing up to join Merlin in front of one of the many sets of shelves in the physician's chambers. These particular shelves were full of plants, roots, and jars of powders that were used to make medicines. Turning to Merlin, she gave a cheeky grin and nudged his shoulder. "So where do we start?"

* * *

When an exhausted Gaius returned to his chambers a couple of hours later, there was no indication of any awkwardness between the two teenagers. The sun had long since set, and candles were lit around the room. Emma was sitting at the table, her arms crossed in front of her as she watched Merlin flail his arms around. Her brown hair was still damp from the bath she had finally gotten to take, and pulled back in a simple braid tied with a purple ribbon. This matched the simple lavender dress that she was wearing.

Merlin looked… Like he always did. A blue long sleeved shirt, which was currently rolled up to his elbows, and a red neckerchief sat in its usual place. His jacket was thrown carelessly over the bench beside him. A mortar and pestle sat to his right, abandoned in favor of telling Emma of another of his magical misadventures.

"He still didn't realize she was a troll!" Merlin laughed as Gaius entered.

Apparently, the story was about when king Uther had unknowingly married a troll, who was disguised as the Lady Catarina.

Both looked up as they heard the door open. "Hey Gaius." Merlin greeted, watching as the physician dropped his bag on the table, and tiredly dropped down on the bench beside him.

"How is she?" Emma asked concernedly as Merlin stood to get Gaius some food. A low pot had been simmering over the fire, containing some of the soup that Merlin and Emma had eaten earlier.

"Oh, thank you, Merlin." Gaius murmured, taking the bowl and spoon offered. He set it on the table in front of his and sighed. "She is alive, and so is the baby. It was a very difficult birth, and the next couple of days will be telling, but I believe both will live."

Emma gave Gaius a small smile, and squeezed his hand. "That's good news."

"Indeed." He agreed, setting into the soup. As he ate, Merlin got back to work with the mortar and pestle, and Emma continued work on her drawing. It was angled against the side of the table, so neither man could see it. All three worked in relative quiet, only the sounds of Gaius slurping his soup, and the scratch of the mortar could be heard.

Finally, Gaius pushed the bowl away and took a long drink of water. "What news of the castle? Did anything happen in my absence?" He asked.

"Arthur told me that we are going to set out again in two days time to continue the search for Morgana." Merlin informed him, setting the mortar aside once more. "I don't know how much longer Uther is going to be able to keep this search up. He's running the knights ragged going out on searches and patrols looking for her."

Gaius stared off to the side, looking thoughtful. "It's been over a year now. I think I'll speak to him after you and Arthur leave, make him see reason. I know he loved Morgana like a daughter, but this constant searching has to end at some point."

Both men fell silent as Emma watched on, her pencil drifting lightly over the surface of the paper as she thought about everything that had happened once more. It would probably take weeks, if she was here that long, before where she was really set in. The thought of being stuck that long sent a wave of melancholy through heart. What if she never got to go home? What if she was truly stuck in medieval Camelot? Although, she conceded, it could have been worse. At least she had a roof over her head and friends that she cared about.

She was so deeply in thought that she nearly missed hearing Merlin say her name.

"Emma, while I'm gone, would you mind helping Gaius out with any chores he needs doing?" Merlin asked.

She scrunched her forehead slightly, and cautiously replied, "I'd be glad to help in any way that I can, but I don't know how much use I'll really be. I don't know anything at all about those plants, or how to make potions. Or even how to get around the castle by myself." The last part she added with a small, self-deprecating laugh.

"Don't worry. I'll do anything medical that needs doing." Gaius assured her, patting the top of her hand. "It's mostly just delivering tonics and poultices, or helping to carry supplies."

Merlin scowled and muttered something under his breath that sounded suspiciously like 'pack-mule' and something about 'building character'.

Emma giggled at Merlin's annoyed face, and nodded. "Sure. Both of you have done a lot for me, I'm glad I can be of some help."

"Thank you, Emma. It's greatly appreciated, especially as I am getting too old for all of this running around." Gaius smiled. "Now, we should all get to bed. I imagine there will be a lot for you to do to get ready for the patrol."

His words were punctuated by a timely yawn from Merlin, whose jaw cracked as he tried in vain to fight the urge.

"I think that's an agreement from Merlin." Emma agreed lightly, shutting her sketch notebook and tucking it under her arm as she stood up from the table. "Good night, Gaius." Remembering suddenly that there were no lights, electric or otherwise, in Merlin's room, Emma also grabbed a candle from the table to take with her.

"Good night, Emma." Gaius responded as she headed up the stairs.

One of the things that she and Merlin had done that afternoon was to string a blanket across the room, dividing it in half and giving Emma a bit of privacy. Merlin had repeatedly insisted that she keep the bed for the time being, so he dragged it to the far side of the room for her to use. The extra cot normally used for patients had been brought up for Merlin to use in the meantime.

Drawing the blanket closed, Emma set the candle down on the box that served as a makeshift bedside table, and quickly changed into one of her new nightgowns. It was white, and long enough to brush the floor around her bare toes. It had long sleeves, which was apparently the normal style for clothes in this period. She had to stifle a giggle at the thought of what her new friends would think of the clothing styles in her time.

The sound of the door opening and closing again interrupted Emma's musing as Merlin entered the room. A crash, followed by muffled cursing, reached her ears, and she laughed as she poked her head around the curtain.

Merlin was hopping around on one foot, rubbing the other one where apparently he had kicked the bed.

"Are you alright?" Emma asked cheekily.

Merlin's head shot up as he dropped his foot in surprise, apparently forgetting that Emma had been in the room. After that reaction, he tried to cover it by being nonchalant and quickly sinking down onto the cot with a manic grin. "I'm absolutely fine."

Smiling, she nodded quickly and said, "Good night then, Merlin."

"Good night, Emma." Merlin offered as she closed the curtain back up. The cot squeaked as Merlin settled down onto it, and then the candle on the other side of the blanket was blown out. She quickly followed suit, blowing out the candle and snuggling down into the blankets. It didn't take long for her to fall into the realm of Morpheus.

* * *

The next three days passed in a bit of a blur for Emma. She started running for a bit in the mornings once again, checking out different paths and ways through the castle and surrounding village that she could use.

In between doing his numerous chores, Merlin found some time to show Emma how to do some of the basic chores Gaius most often needed, as well as the places where he most often had to take potions. He promised her a more in depth tour of the castle when he came back from this latest patrol.

Emma also had a few glimpses of Arthur, usually when he was walking through the halls of the castle, or speaking with a knight. Gwen had also been busy, trying to finish the clothes that Emma had ordered from her. She had managed to get everything done by the time Merlin and Arthur were due to leave, and Emma had been eternally thankful to have her own clothes once again.

Finally, it was time for the patrol to head off. Gwen and Emma stood on the stone steps leading into the castle, watching as the fairly large group of knights gathered in the courtyard. Some were readying their horses, attaching packs and blankets, while some were giving their weapons a final inspection.

Seeing their chance for a goodbye, Emma and Gwen headed down the staircase to where Merlin and Arthur were standing. Gwen met them first, and gave both men a smile.

"Please be safe." She asked, giving Arthur's hand a quick squeeze.

Arthur gave her a soft smile and returned the pressure on her hand. "Of course, Guinevere."

Emma, who was standing a few steps behind, deliberated for a few moments before throwing her arms around Merlin's neck and giving him a crushing hug. His arms came up around her waist, and he returned the pressure before letting go of her and setting her back down. Emma skittered back a step, her cheeks turning a bit pink from embarrassment.

"Yeah… Make sure you both come back in one piece, alright? I don't want to have to come rescue you from more bandits." Emma teased a bit.

Arthur scowled; looking for the world like a bird whose feathers had been ruffled. "That was a completely different situation." He argued, and was about to add more when a rider came barreling into the courtyard, nearly colliding with a group of knights in his haste.

Without preamble, he jumped off of his horse and ran over to Arthur, pushing out breathlessly, "Sire, one of Camelot's patrols has been attacked, near the base of the Ridge of Ascetir."

Arthur immediately shifted into his commander persona, yelling orders at various knights and servants as he mounted. He sent a servant to relay the message to the king, and grilled the messenger as to the patrol's exact whereabouts. Without further delay, the rest of the knights who had horses mounted, and all of the foot patrol got into formation. Taking the opportunity for one look back at Guinevere, Arthur turned slightly and gave her one last smile before spurring his horse into action. Merlin gave a half wave to the two girls before turning and following him.

Gwen turned on her heel and headed back into the castle with Emma right behind her. But what Gwen didn't hear were the four words that reverberated through Emma's skull as she followed:

_And so it begins._


	7. The Tears of Uther Pendragon, Part 1

On the mist covered plains beneath towering snow-covered mountains, Arthur, Merlin and the rest of the patrol stumbled upon the remains of the attacked Camelotian patrol. Bodies were lying all over the ground beneath the still whipping flags of Camelot. There wasn't any sign of an enemy bodies among the group.

"Check for survivors." Arthur ordered.

The knights spread out among the bedlam, checking the various bodies for any signs of life. When none could be found, Arthur checked the tracks and yelled out, "Seems their attackers headed north! Come on!"

Before Arthur could walk more than a few steps away, Merlin called, "Do you think we should be going after them?"

Arthur turned back and gave him an incredulous look. "You are such a girl's petticoat." He mocked before he continued walking away.

Merlin huffed and rolled his eyes slightly before following.

**Insert Line Here**

"Emma?"

The girl in question, who had been staring at the pretty spectacular views out of Merlin's bedroom window, turned slightly at her name being called. Gaius stood in the doorway, watching her with a small smile. "Merlin likes to stare out that window a lot." Gaius informed her, coming to stand beside the table she was currently standing on. "He says it helps him to think."

"I'm sure it does. Those are some impressive views he's got there." Emma agreed lightly. "So what's up?"

Gaius frowned and looked up towards the ceiling, making Emma roll her eyes in annoyance. Dang cultural differences again. "Sorry, figure of speech." She apologized, and Gaius stopped looking towards the ceiling. "Was there something you needed?" Emma asked again.

"Yes." Gaius replied, giving her an arm to grab so she could jump down from the table. He handed her two small bottles, one filled with a thick yellow liquid, and one filled with a watery dark blue liquid. "I need to speak with the king, and so I need you to deliver these for me. This," he pointed to the thick yellow potion, "Goes to Sir Gavin. The other goes to Lady Elanor. I believe Merlin showed you where those two individuals live?"

"Sort of." Emma shrugged as she walked back into the main room. "If I get too lost, I'll just ask a servant or guard for directions."

Gaius followed her out. "Very good. Thank you, Emma." Gaius muttered distractedly.

Emma started walking out before she turned back and said, "Good luck with the king, Gaius." Gaius nodded, and with that, she ventured out the door.

Gaius sighed as he walked into the elaborate throne room to find Uther staring melancholy out the window. In the following conversation, despite the physician's best arguments, Uther refused to stop searching or to do anything that would hinder his efforts to find Morgana. Uther refused to stop looking until Morgana was found.

**Insert Line Here**

In the Forest of Ascetir, a loud groan could be heard among the footsteps and clomping strides of horses, followed by a loud "Ow."

Arthur looked back at Merlin, who was currently fidgeting uncomfortably on his horse, and asked, "Is something wrong with you?"

"I've been on a horse all day." Merlin grumbled.

"Is your little bottom sore?"

"Yes. It's not as fat as yours." Merlin grumbled under his breath.

Arthur laughed slightly. "You know, you've got a lot of nerve for a wimp." And then another thought seemed to occur to him, and he added with a sly smile, "I think you're just missing your new girlfriend."

"Girlfriend?" Merlin looked puzzled until he realized, "Oh, you mean Emma. She is not my girlfriend, just a friend. A friend who I've only known for a few days." Merlin insisted. Even if she was currently one of only two people in Camelot who knew his secret and still accepted him.

Arthur snickered. "If you say so. I still think you're a wimp."

"I may be a wimp, but at least I'm not a… Dollop-head."

"There's no such word." Arthur scoffed.

"It's idiomatic." Merlin insisted.

"It's what?" Arthur asked incredulously.

"You need to be more in touch with the people."

Arthur shook his head slightly, and insisted, "Describe dollop-head."

"In two words?"

"Yeah."

"Prince Arthur."

Arthur looked ahead and suddenly straightened in the saddle. He motioned for a stop, seeing tents and the tell-tale smoke of a fire through the trees.

The knights approached the camp, swords drawn, and split up to search the camp.

Arthur bent down to check the fire, and found that it was still warm. The knights, and Merlin, looked around cautiously. The momentary calm was broken by the distinctive _twang_ of the crossbow as one of the knights was hit in the back with a bolt.

Chaos insued, with screaming bandits and the clanging of swords against swords and armor. After a few not-very-subtle acts of magic on Merlin's part, the battle began to wind down. Merlin, who had accidentally tripped by the base of a tree, saw a bandit sneak up behind Arthur's back. With a quick flash of his eyes, a spear rose up from the ground and impaled the bandit.

Arthur looked around the small battle scene, looking for the person who had just saved his life. What met his eyes was the sight of Merlin, his manservant, cowering behind a tree.

"We're not playing hide and seek, Merlin." Arthur snapped, and walked off to find more of the bandits to fight.

"Dollop-head." Merlin huffed, before scrambling up to follow Arthur.

With the bandits beaten, the knights began to search the camp looking for clues. Arthur and Merlin, who stood in the middle of it all, heard the tell-tale crack of a stick and immediately turned that way to search for more bandits. Arthur drew his sword and slowly approached the area of the sound, with Merlin watching his back wearing a determined expression.

A hazy figure slowly became visible, stumbling its way through the trees. A young woman with dirty black hair and grayish-green eyes in a rumpled purple dress staggered her way into view. As the woman's face became more visible, something in Merlin's face shifted. Grief, guilt and shock flicked their way across his face.

Arthur, on the other hand, simply looked astonished. He dropped the point of the sword down, and said incredulously, "Morgana?"

"Ar-Arthur." Morgana whimpered, before her eyes rolled back in her head and she collapsed to the ground. Arthur dove for her, but missed as she dropped to the ground.

He quickly picked her up in his arms, and yelled out to the knights, "We need to get back to Camelot immediately!"

**Insert Line Here**

Emma and Gaius had been eating some more of the homemade soup when a servant burst into the door of the chambers without knocking. Both looked up, startled at the interruption, as the servant breathlessly reported, "Your presence is required in the Lady Morgana's chambers."

Gaius looked shocked, but he managed to say, "Alright." and grab his medical bag on his way to the door.

As he made his way to the door, Merlin, who looked completely shell-shocked, made his way into the room. He and Gaius exchanged meaningful glances, and then Gaius followed the servant out the doors.

Emma, who had stood up from the table, made her way over to Merlin's side a set a hand on his shoulder. When he didn't say anything, or even acknowledge her presence, she gave gentle tug on his shoulder to force him to face her. His eyes were slightly glazed over as he stared off at the distance, and a strand of hair had fallen down over his forehead. "Merlin, what is going on?" She asked, slightly worried at the way he was acting.

His expression cleared somewhat as he looked down at her. She was wearing a concerned expression, unconsciously biting her lower lip as she waited for his answer. "We found Morgana." He finally said softly.

A million responses ran through her head, but the only thing Emma could say was "Oh." Remembering the story she had been told about Morgana, especially the part where Merlin had been forced to poison her to save Camelot, she could understand why he was so worried. Trying to relay comfort, she squeezed the shoulder her hand was on.

Too wound up for comfort, Merlin pulled away and began pacing the length of the room. Emma, although understanding, couldn't help but roll her eyes and walk back to the table. There she picked up her sketchpad, where she was putting the finishing touches on her drawing. It was pretty much done, as she had been working on it off and on for the last three days.

The face of a rather pretty young woman with light eyes and dark hair stared back at her. After a few minutes of darkening lines and adding shadows, Emma looked up to see Merlin was still pacing.

"Merlin, something tells me that Gaius won't appreciate you wearing a hole in the floor." Emma said wryly. "Maybe you should sit down and wait for Gaius to get back, before you start jumping to conclusions about what Morgana may or may not have said."

Merlin nodded distractedly before sitting on the bench and leaning forward onto his legs, his legs bouncing on the tip of his toes. He sat like that for a few minutes, got up to pace for a few more minutes after that, and finally he just sat down on the bench and stared at the ground, deep in thought.

When Gaius entered several minutes later, Merlin wasted no time in throwing himself up to meet the physician. "Did you talk to her?" Merlin asked anxiously, turning back as Gaius walked right past him.

"She's sleeping."

Merlin followed, continuing, "Did she say anything about me?"

"Nothing as of yet."

"Well, she's going to!" Merlin said, sounding slightly panicked.

Gaius finally turned back to look at him. "Does she know your secret, Merlin?" He gave Merlin a searching look, leaning forward slightly. "Does she know you have magic?"

"No, no one does." Merlin insisted. He caught Emma's eyes, who had raised an eyebrow, and allowed, "Present company excluded, of course."

"Surprising, considering how you two talk about it all the time." Emma muttered under her breath. Both men ignored her, however, and continued with their conversation.

Gaius gave a small sigh of relief, and replied, "Good. Because if Uther finds out…"

"She knows I tried to poison her, she knows that." Merlin interrupted in a low tone.

"You had no choice." Gaius reminded him sternly. "Camelot was dying. Morgana was the source of the enchantment; either you poisoned her, or the kingdom fell."

Merlin shook his head slightly, and said, "But Uther won't know that. All she'll say is I tried to kill her."

"We can't be sure, Merlin." Gaius said, turning and walking over to another worktable.

Seeing a chance to actually interject something, Emma had to try and help."Merlin, you can't say what she will do. Maybe she won't say anything, and she'll forgive you. From what you've told me, you had no choice. Not to mention, you could have chosen to kill her with a dagger, or some other way that there would be no chance of recovery, to get rid of the spell. But you gave her a chance to live." Emma reminded him gently. "Both she, and Camelot, are alive because of your actions."

Merlin still looked completely miserable, although he gave Emma a nod to show he had heard her. In a quiet voice, he asked, "What do you think Uther will do to me?"

Gaius sighed and put down the quill he had been writing with. He slowly turned around and gave Merlin a tight smile. "Let's just wait and see what tomorrow brings."

Merlin nodded slightly in response. Emma got up and grabbed his hand in comfort, and gave it a squeeze. "Everything is going to be alright, I promise. Morgana isn't going to tell Uther anything about you." She sounded totally sure in her words, and he gave her a slight quirk of a smile in gratitude.

"If only I could borrow some of that optimism." Merlin said quietly. Turning back to Gaius, he said dejectedly, "I think I'm going to get some sleep."

Dropping Emma's hand, Merlin trudged up the stairs and shut the door behind him, effectively shutting himself off from the world.

Emma followed his path with a worried gaze. She just knew that this would work out, that Morgana wouldn't tell Uther of what had transpired. But, she hadn't actually met Morgana before, so how could she be so sure?

Shaking her head quickly to dispel those thoughts, Emma turned to face Gaius. He was wearing an equally worried face, deeply concerned for the fate of his ward. "Is there anything I can help with?" she asked softly.

Gaius' gaze cleared somewhat, although she could still see the worry in his eyes. "No, thank you, Emma. I'm just going to put these supplies away, and get some sleep. You should do the same."

Emma tilted her head slightly, and nodded her assent. Obviously Gaius wanted some time to himself. "Alright. Good night, Gaius." She said as she turned to go up into the room.

"Good night, Emma." Came the response from behind her.

When she entered Merlin's room, he was laying in the bed and staring blankly at the ceiling. Emma murmured a good night as she passed through, and quickly got ready for bed herself. As she burrowed under the blankets, her last thought was, _It really has been one hell of a day._

**Insert Line Here**

_Emma was dreaming again. _

_A woman wearing expensive clothes, and a purple flowing cape, was riding through a dark and silent forest on a white horse. When she reached the base of some mountains, overgrown with moss and bushes, she stopped her horse and left it at the base of a steep path. She headed up the path, to a cave lit with torches and guarded by two men wearing hoods. The two men bowed to her as she entered, her hood still up and covering her face._

_The inside of the cave was about as nice looking as the outside. Roots had grown all throughout the cave, hanging from the ceiling and walls haphazardly. In the center of the cave stood a gigantic black cauldron, like straight out of a witch movie._

_From the back of the cave, a beautiful woman with brown eyes and long, curly blond hair stepped out. She was wearing a blood red dress with straps that gathered at her left shoulder. "My sister." She greeted. "How have you faired?"_

_The woman in purple pushed back her hood, revealing long dark tresses and grey eyes. It was the woman from Emma's other dream. "Camelot has welcomed back it's daughter with open arms." She revealed, smirking slightly._

_The woman in red moved forward to clasp her sister's hands."Uther does not suspect?"_

"_He laps up my lies like the sniveling dog that he is." The woman in purple sneered._

"_And the boy?"_

_The other woman's face noticeably fell. "Merlin." She said stiffly. "He believes I've changed. And he's right." Her face became harsh and cold. "Soon, he will see exactly how much." With that, she handed over a white piece of material._

_The woman in red took the cloth gently from her sister's hands. "You have done well." She said, smoothing the cloth through her fingers before holding it up in front of her. The two woman shared a look, and her next words sent a cold shiver down Emma's spine. "The tears of Uther Pendragon have only begun to fall."_

Emma shot up in her bed, her heart pounding and mind racing. _What in the world was that?_ Emma wondered, bringing her hand to her chest, where she could feel her heart racing. Taking a moment to slow her breathing, Emma got up from the bed, the coolness of the floor providing a momentary shock to her bare feet. Tip-toeing across the floor, she peeked around the blanket to check on Merlin. The warlock in question was out cold, breathing softly in his slumber.

Creeping back across the room, Emma flinched and froze when one of the floorboards squeaked. No noise came from the other side of the room, and Emma let a sigh of relief as she walked back over to her bed. She stared at the beams over her head as she attempted to fall back asleep, thinking over her newest dream. _Why do I keep having these dreams?_ She couldn't help but think. As she drifted back into sleep, a final thought crossed her mind. _What is happening to me?_


End file.
